What a critical article. Basically sweepingly states that the only reason Murray achieved his success last year was because Nadal wasn't around. Gives no credit to Murray whatsoever.

If we actually recount the facts, Nadal was the first of the other big three that Murray beat in a Slam (twice), and Murray wiped the floor with him in their last encounter (Tokyo 2011). Murray's game has only improved since then, quite dramatically, and comments like, "Could Murray have claimed that much hardware with a healthy Nadal playing in those tournaments? It's impossible to say, but history suggests no.", and "Murray has reached the finals of each Slam since Nadal went out. Coincidence? Highly doubtful" are incredibly ignorant and totally disrespectful. Before the USO Murray had never beaten either Djokovic or Federer in a Slam - which he has now done in successive slams. Absolutely nothing to say he wouldn't have ended his recent run against Rafa as well.

Of course let's ignore than Nadal also 'owns' Federer too, and 'owned' Djokovic until his noticeable improvements in 2011 and just attribute Murray's improvements completely to Nadal being injured.

Oh, I fumed over the article, and replied to it too, in much the same way as you've said here. It's totally disrespective of Andy, and only mentions points that happen to fit in with their clearly anti-Murray point of view.

There is no evidence to say that Andy would not have progressed if Nadal had been around. As you say, he has beaten him in slams, and he won the last match between them - well, won is an understatement.

To be honest, the sooner Andy plays Rafa again the better it will be, although I'd much prefer it to be on hard or grass rather than clay. The thing is, it will show how far Andy has come, which some are choosing to overlook, for reasons best known to themselves.

Hopefully Andy will continue to progress this year (it certainly feels like he will) and he'll give a lot of people really bad indigestion as a result of excessive consumption of humble pie.

What a critical article. Basically sweepingly states that the only reason Murray achieved his success last year was because Nadal wasn't around. Gives no credit to Murray whatsoever.

If we actually recount the facts, Nadal was the first of the other big three that Murray beat in a Slam (twice), and Murray wiped the floor with him in their last encounter (Tokyo 2011). Murray's game has only improved since then, quite dramatically, and comments like, "Could Murray have claimed that much hardware with a healthy Nadal playing in those tournaments? It's impossible to say, but history suggests no.", and "Murray has reached the finals of each Slam since Nadal went out. Coincidence? Highly doubtful" are incredibly ignorant and totally disrespectful. Before the USO Murray had never beaten either Djokovic or Federer in a Slam - which he has now done in successive slams. Absolutely nothing to say he wouldn't have ended his recent run against Rafa as well.

Of course let's ignore than Nadal also 'owns' Federer too, and 'owned' Djokovic until his noticeable improvements in 2011 and just attribute Murray's improvements completely to Nadal being injured.

I tend to ignore most Bleacher Report articles for this reason - lots of them seem to be written by either Federer or Rafa fanboys/girls and are so biased towards their favourite and anti anyone else. The odd good article gets written on there but they're far and few between.

The author of that article is missing the point as Andy and Rafa would have been in opposite halves of the draw at the Olympics, USO and AO anyway. At the USO and AO Rafa would have faced Djokovic in the SF, and I find it hard to see how he'd have beaten Djokovic to then face Andy in the final given their H2H on hard courts. Perhaps he'd have had more of a chance at the Olympics, where Federer was his seeded SF but Federer has never been an easy matchup for him on grass, and he'd have had to beat Delpo in the QF to reach him - another potentially tough matchup for him.

It'll be interesting to see how Andy fares against Rafa this year. Like you say, Andy dominated Rafa in their last meeting. I'd be surprised if he doesn't start winning against him a lot more frequently on hardcourt - he's always had the game to trouble him there, and his added confidence over the past year should help him a lot.

It'll be interesting to see how Andy fares against Rafa this year. Like you say, Andy dominated Rafa in their last meeting. I'd be surprised if he doesn't start winning against him a lot more frequently on hardcourt - he's always had the game to trouble him there, and his added confidence over the past year should help him a lot.

I think that the ground that was already shifting under Nadal's feet wrt "the other guys" is likely to have completely eroded away following this latest development. I think that the only real contest will be with the other declining star, Faderer.

I think that the ground that was already shifting under Nadal's feet wrt "the other guys" is likely to have completely eroded away following this latest development. I think that the only real contest will be with the other declining star, Faderer.

I'm not sure whether there will be a real contest there - Rafa's so much in Federer's head that it's difficult to see him starting to turn that matchup around now. Though Federer always has the edge when they meet indoors.

Novak/Rafa matches on clay will be very interesting. Novak had the edge in 2011 but then failed to reach the RG final, while Rafa had regained the edge in 2012 in all their clay meetings.

Rafa's been able to recover very well from injuries in the past (like in 2010 when he won 3 slams after having an injury-disrupted 2009). He could well get back to his former level again, but I can't really see him being able to dominate Andy and Novak on hardcourts - they've really raised their level over the last year.

I tend to ignore most Bleacher Report articles for this reason - lots of them seem to be written by either Federer or Rafa fanboys/girls and are so biased towards their favourite and anti anyone else. The odd good article gets written on there but they're far and few between.

The author of that article is missing the point as Andy and Rafa would have been in opposite halves of the draw at the Olympics, USO and AO anyway. At the USO and AO Rafa would have faced Djokovic in the SF, and I find it hard to see how he'd have beaten Djokovic to then face Andy in the final given their H2H on hard courts. Perhaps he'd have had more of a chance at the Olympics, where Federer was his seeded SF but Federer has never been an easy matchup for him on grass, and he'd have had to beat Delpo in the QF to reach him - another potentially tough matchup for him.

It'll be interesting to see how Andy fares against Rafa this year. Like you say, Andy dominated Rafa in their last meeting. I'd be surprised if he doesn't start winning against him a lot more frequently on hardcourt - he's always had the game to trouble him there, and his added confidence over the past year should help him a lot.

I agree Katie - when I see the word 'Contributor' at the top of a Bleacher article, I rarely bother to read it.

If what we've been hearing from Nadal over the last few days is true and not just some kind of gamesmanship, then I can't see him being much of a threat to any of the top 10 players who will exploit his vulnerability to the full. However, as the article claims, it is possible that Uncle Toni may have delayed Nadal's return until he deemed him to be as fit as is possible for a player who's been out of the game for so long. Even if that is the case though I'd imagine that Nadal is very unlikely to be 100% match fit for quite some time. I know he's bounced back quickly before after an injury lay-off, but (a) he's older now, and (b) has possibly inflicted goodness knows how much more damage on his long-suffering knees.

This seems like an old picture but geez lewiz. I am scared...for Andy!

I'm convinced it's old because (a) Nadal's hair is long, and (b) he's shed quite a bit of muscle weight over the past two years, apparently on medical advice in order to try to protect his knees. I'm equally sure though that it's been digitally enhanced.

I see Rafa & partner are 1 set up & 3-1 in the second! Anyone watching? How is he looking?

I watched the second set - he looked good to me! He seemed to be moving fine and was hitting his forehand very well. Hard to judge though with it being doubles - tomorrow will be the real test. Hope it goes well for him.